Time is Precious

We all know the importance of time, but how well do we utilize our time? The key to success is absolutely management of time in a way that is productive, not only for this world but the afterlife as Muslims. Many of today’s youths are preoccupied with things that bring them no benefit, with celebrities, music, television, video games, and we can say adults might have problems with these things as well. These days, it’s becoming more and more important that we benefit from our time, as life is short. Yesterday I remember being a kid, today I am a grown woman. Life is made up of minutes and seconds. I ask Allah to bless our time. One of my goals is to better utilize my time, not only for this world, but to trying to get closer to Allah.

I recently came across this short yet powerful lecture on how time is so precious. Please take some time to listen to this, it will definitely be good use of your time.

Updates and more updates

For Eid I went to Minnesota, and I was quite excited to see Somali people. Being in the east coast I don’t see many Somali people, especially people I grew up with like in Minnesota. I realized that traveling teaches you a great deal about differences in places. Minnesota is completely different than the east coast. Of course, the looks people give you in Minnesota is mind boggling, especially when they see you’re Somali.Of course it could all be in my head, being that I faced alot of racism for being Somali while in Minnesota. While I was there, I went on a bus, and of course no surprise there, all the white people were giving me horrible looks, I just smiled and took my seat. In my opinion, you have to always smile, someone might need it out there. Also, it’s good to show people that don’t like you a smile, because in all honestly they’ll end up looking stupid. Maybe when I was younger, I was more self-conscious, but the older I got, things like that are very small. Anyways, the good things about Minnesota is how the Somali people there make you so comfortable, and everyone seems to help one another. I never realized that while in Minnesota. Minnesota for me is a good place to visit once in a while to see my “Somali people”, but I don’t think I can live there again. It was very cold too, and it was only November!

I came back to the east coast after spending a week in Minnesota, and for some reason I really missed this place. Also, all types of people are here, so it’s very diverse compared to Minnesota. It just makes me so comfortable here, like it’s my natural habitat. The downside to this place is lack of jobs. For some reason, you don’t see people of color with jobs in this state I’m living in. It’s a pretty interesting phenomenon. Most of the jobs seem to be given to white people; I don’t know it could be alot of factors involved I’m overlooking. Of course, I don’t let things like that stop me, I actually did find a job. I started working recently, and remember how I talked about wearing hijab and feeling like I wouldn’t find work? Well, I put that behind me. I went to that interview with my hijab on, and you know what I still got the job. It’s so true, as one of my blog readers said Allah is Ar-razzaq. That’s one of the 99 names of Allah, which means “Provider”. It’s not people that give you a job, it’s through God that you get a job from a person. It’s only by the will of Allah that you get something. So, as long as your faith, and confidence in yourself is intact, the world is yours. So, go out there, don’t be afraid to be afraid and make your life happen!!

Social Networks and Image

Many people use social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. While it’s true that for employers, Facebook can sometimes cause embarrassment for them via employees’ behavior and certain information they choose to share. Twitter is a bit different in that many anyone can follow you, and see what you “tweet” about. I’ve been using Twitter for a while now, and I recently got a call from a relative of mine on what someone thought about something I “tweeted”. At first I was shocked that people would take Twitter so seriously, because I mainly go on there to relax and unwind. I also like to see what’s going on in the world, and different views people have. It was mind boggling to me to hear that because of the certain ways I choose to tweet certain information, somehow, people in the “Somali” community might take me to be a bad person or worst a “loose” woman.

As I’ve said many times, the Somali culture calls for women to be socially conservative, and sometimes Twitter just let’s you be free to tweet irresponsibly. In that way, it can somehow affect your image. Image is something that is very important. However, we all want to not care what others think. I guess the question is, how much of the information you give on social networks will it take to harm your reputation? For me, I really don’t care for the opinions of certain people, because no matter what you do in life, people will talk good or bad about an individual. All we can do is let Allah be the judge, and avoid negative people.